How Greece differed from other centers of civilization and what the effects
of those differences were.

The Greek development of the hoplite phalanx, and how it and the building of
navies of rowed ships affected the political institutions of the city-states.

the origins and effect of rule by aristocracies and democracies in the Greek
city states.

The results of the conquests of Alexander the Great.

TEXT

The title of Iron Age Empires is a bit misleading, since,
technically speaking, we are still in the Iron Age. The subject might be better
expressed as The Iron-Age Powers That Preceded and Laid the Foundations For
the Classical Empires That Followed, but that's far too long and
confusing.

What I would like to discuss are those powers that arose out of the era of
upheaval that attended the introduction of iron and allowed mass armies of foot
soldiers to dominate the field of battle. These states gradually expanded their
powers until they reached the point at which they had to become more concerned
with uniting their lands and peoples and less on extending their power still
further. When that happened, they became what we call The Classical
Empires, and we will be discussing them in a later lecture. Just to keep
things in order, let's simply review each region.

China

From about 800 B.C. to about 400, the Chou dynasty slowly lost power until it was
finally carved up by the rulers of the petty states that surrounded it. These
little kingdoms fell into a period of conflict known as The Era of the
Warring States that lasted from about 400 to 220 and was ended only with
the conquest of all of these states by rulers of the Ch'in dynasty (from which
our word "China" comes). The Ch'in emperors then began to expand, particularly
southward toward the Yang-tze River valley. It was during this period that
Chinese philosophy flourished in the persons of such men as
Confucius and Lao-tze.

India

From about 800 B.C. to about 550, the Aryans expanded, primarily eastward, but
they were unable to retain any unity to their conquests. By about 550, their
lands were divided into a number of small principalities, all of which were
usually ready to war with the other. Meanwhile, invaders from the west occupied
large sections of the Punjab. It was during this period that
Hinduism took formal shape and that Buddhism arose
and spread. This situation ended in about 320 B.C. with the great ruler
Chandragupta, who managed to unite all of the Ganges River Valley and
establish the Mauryan Empire, a state that would persist until
about 180 B.C.

Iran

The peoples of the Iranian plateau were divided among themselves and subject to
frequent attacks from outside powers such as Assyria until 550 B.C. It was
during this period that Zarathustra introduced a reform of traditional
Aryan belief called Zoroastrianism, a religious belief that is
still practiced and has, over time, exerted a great influence on Christianity. In
500, the Medes and Persians, the two most powerful peoples of the
plateau, were united under Cyrus the Great. The Persian empire expanded
swiftly and soon controlled Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Asia Minor. In 490 B.C.,
however, they came in conflict with the peoples of Greece, before whom the
Persian empire fell, at least temporarily by 323.

Europe

Civilization in Europe was concentrated in the region of the Aegean
Sea and differed in several ways from the other centers of civilization
on the Eurasian continent. The other civilizations occupied great river valleys
and extended their power and population into the surrounded plains. Greek
civilization was confined to a number of small islands and valleys, no one of
which was capable of supporting a large population. Consequently, Greek
civilization consisted of a number of independent city-states, a form of
political organization that had been superceded in most of the civilized world a
thousand years earlier. Such small tracts of land could not support much of an
increase in population and, from about 800 B.C. to 600, the Greeks solved this
problem by sending out settlers to found colonies elsewhere in the Mediterranean.
This solution proved insufficient, and, from 650 to about 500, many if not most
of the Greek city-states experienced internal conflict between the economic elite
and the masses, each contending for the control of the limited land available.

With a limited population, it was difficult for any single city state to put a
large number of fighting men onto the battlefield, so the Greeks concentrated on
developing quality in place of quantity. This was accomplished partly by exalting
the communal spirit of the citizens of the state, and partly by developing a
slave economy that ensured that a large number of men would have leisure time.
The Greeks developed a heavy armor and long-spear for a particularly well-
equipped warrior called a hoplite. These hoplites were trained in
close-order drill so that they could move in unison in a tightly-packed formation
called a phalanx. As is usually the case, the citizens who served
as hoplites eventually gained political power within the state. Although they did
not include the entire free population, they formed a larger body than most
ruling elites and were able to shape their states as they wished. As a result,
the Greek city states in 500 B.C. displayed a bewildering variety of forms of
organization and principles of governance.

In 490 B.C., however, Darius sent an expeditionary force to punish
Athens for having assisted the Greek cities of Asia Minor that the
Persians were in the process of conquering. The Persians were decisively
defeated, and Darius's son, Xerxes, gathered a large army and invaded
Greece in 480. The Greek city-states united against the Persian invaders and, in
a series of desperate battles, defeated them and drove them off. In the course of
this war, Athens and some other cities developed navies consisting of ships that
were rowed. The commoners of these cities were recruited as rowers and they soon
gained political power, creating a rule of the people that the Greeks called
democracy.

The unity of the Greek states did not last, however, and the various states were
soon divided into two opposing camps, those ruled by an aristocracy
under the leadership of Sparta, and the democracies, who joined
together behind Athens. The two sides clashed in The Peloponnesian
War, which lasted from 432 B.C. to 404 and ended with the defeat of
Athens and the exhaustion of all participants.

In 336, The Greek Peninsula was conquered by Alexander the Great,
king of Macedon, who immediately began planning the invasion of the
Persian Empire. By 323, he had accomplished just that and was working to unify
his realms when he died. His conquests were divided up among his generals.
Although the Greek language and culture was spread through these kingdoms and
formed a common thread for all, unification proved impossible, and there was
warfare between and within these states until the conquest of the entire region
by Rome.

ASSIGNMENTS

REQUIRED

These assignments will give you an opportunity to survey the great ethical
religions that arose in the wake of the break-up of the old Bronze-Age Empires.
There is a great deal of browsing you might do if you have the time, but you
should concentrate on the origins and early history of the religion and its basic
beliefs.

For China, you might wish to begin with the review offered by Washing State
University's page on
Chinese philosophy, since Chinese religion and philosophy are not easily
separated. India's contribution to the ethical religions of the world is two-
fold,
Buddhism and reformed Hinduism, for which you might wish to browse through
Ancient India
Moving east to Iran, you might visit the site providing an overview of the dualist religion
of
Zoroastrianism. Finally, it would be useful to revisit the site on the
Hebrews

RECOMMENDED

That is probably more than enough to keep you busy, but, if you have time, you
might wish to browse through a bit of the classic work of Confucius, the
Analects. And, of
course, You really should make time to read at least a few passages from the
classic work of Taoism, Lao-tze's puzzling yet compelling
Tao Te Ching, "The
Way and the Power." There are many other things to see on the web, but this is
more than enough for today.

You know, teaching one-semester classes covering all of world history is pretty
frustrating for instructors. We know so many nifty things that we would like to
show you and tell you about, but there's no time...

This text was produced and installed by
Lynn H. Nelson, Department of
History, University of Kansas.
8 February 1998
Lawrence KS